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Post by littleminnie on Nov 13, 2010 14:06:29 GMT -5
I have grown them for 3 seasons. I planted 3 tubers in 2008 and ended up with almost 15 gallons that fall. Then in 2009 I bought some Red Fuseau to add to the yellows. I had way too many and they sold negligibly at market. This year I had almost 100 feet of them and actually ran out by the end of the CSA. A lot of people liked them!
They are made up of all a soluble fiber called inulin, which is the fiber used in a lot of fibery foods like Fiber One and Fiber choice pills. It is a gassy fiber but makes sunchokes have I believe 7 calories a serving! An English book I have suggests always eating them with carrots to cut down on the wind.
Chefs puree them mostly. If you can handle it (which my gut can't) eat them raw with dip or shred into a salad. I roast a mix of root veggies with some salt, EVOO and a little broth to start. You can't discern which veggie is which after roasting. or you can even make alcohol with them!
I think it is a big decision to put them in the garden since you will always have them and they are crazy productive. BTW the flowers smell like chocolate and sell well with sunflowers. Everyone smells the chocolate scent.
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Post by wildseed57 on Nov 17, 2010 16:01:51 GMT -5
They go by the name of sunchokes a lot, I have not grown them in quite a while, when I lived in Southern Calif. I grew some in a small area and the plants were very nice in bloom, when fall came I dug up all the tubers there must have been a hundred or more some were good size while others were the size of my thumb, I like them prepared in Salads a lot and they do make a good addition to soups, I think I will give them another try next spring.
George W.
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Post by toad on Nov 21, 2010 16:09:10 GMT -5
They are really great raw, but in small quantities. I also like them in blended soup, half potatoes, topped with an egg, a few shimps, fried bacon or even thinly sliced crisp fried sunchokes. I have them boiled whole. Taste are different between varieties, very noticeably in the raw sunchokes.
I guess a lot of people can get over the problem with upset stomach, if starting with small quantities, and slowly increasing the amount. I never had problem with the half&half sunchoke/potato soup, but with the sweet nutty delicious raw sunchokes yeah!
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Post by extremegardener on Jan 2, 2011 8:57:30 GMT -5
My favorite thing to do with them is add them to kimchee (brine pickle).
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Post by keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.) on Feb 23, 2011 22:41:54 GMT -5
I think I'd like to try growing these. I've never eaten them before, but they sound like they might be interesting. If anyone has some spare seeds they could send, that would be fantastic. They do produce true seeds don't they? Or do most people just plant the tubers straight? Real seeds would be awesome!
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Post by mjc on Feb 23, 2011 23:53:11 GMT -5
Well, the first thing about them...they don't grow from seeds (well they can, but they seldom set viable seed). They are propagated from tubers, namely part of last years crop.
I didn't dig any last year, because I planted my patch last year and I want it to expand a bit before I dig any.
Now, a couple of things about their culture...they are North American native and a relative of the sunflower. So they are pretty easy to grow in most parts of the US and are pretty much care free. But it also means that they will spread readily. So make a separate bed for them, or use them as a foundation planting or an 'ornamental' planting in a corner somewhere. They are perennials and readily sprout from even small tubers and large pieces of root, so it is difficult to remove all of them from an are once they are established. That is why you want them to have their own spot.
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Post by keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.) on Feb 24, 2011 1:15:24 GMT -5
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bertiefox
gardener
There's always tomorrow!
Posts: 236
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Post by bertiefox on Feb 24, 2011 7:15:45 GMT -5
I love the taste of artichokes but they do more than create wind, and without going down the 'too much information' route, I usually have to take a day off after a meal of them. Every year I give them another try as I think, 'it couldn't really have been that bad!' And I've been trying to eradicate my patch for nearly eight years!
The real problem is caused by inulin, a complex sugar, which is made up of units of fructose.
This is extremely indigestible for many people.
I just read though that if you leave the tubers to 'ripen' once they are dug (no idea how long that would take and in what conditions) that the starches turn to sugars making the tubers less starchy and sweeter. In theory that should make them more digestible.
Anyone got any information on this, or thinks it's an idea worth trying? If so, perhaps one of the other sufferers might like to give it a go, and tell me if it works! After the last time I ate them I don't think I will try again!
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Post by mnjrutherford on Feb 24, 2011 9:14:43 GMT -5
What is the quality of the seed from Jerusalem artichoke? Can one use both root and seed?
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Post by mjc on Feb 24, 2011 10:37:11 GMT -5
For the most part, IF they do set seed, sunchokes (JA, host of other names), set tiny seeds (take a regular black oil type sunflower seed and shrink it by about 75%) that end up bird food before you even notice them...
Most of the time, though they don't set seed. It probably has to do with the fact that almost all the plants in a patch are clonal and sunflowers, in general have difficulties with 'selfing'. Obviously, they do set seed, otherwise there wouldn't be the variations and varieties there are, (about 40 or so listed in SSE, last year...) more than be accounted for by different folks selecting/adapting over the years from clones, but not much and not often. In about 30 yrs of being around them...I may have seen a handful of seed, total and i have no idea how much of that was viable. I suppose there is a way to get them to produce more seed, as that first article talks of comparing the hybrids with seedling grown JA...my guess is mixing several different varieties so that all the pollen isn't clonal. And also, according to that first article, using JA as the mother (seed parent) in the cross is the way to go, which at the F1 stage would be tiny seeds. Also, there is some discussion in that article about the 'why' of low seed production for JA
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Feb 24, 2011 12:32:37 GMT -5
Also, there is some discussion in that article about the 'why' of low seed production for JA In my garden there's an easy answer... The plants are just starting to bloom when they get killed by frost. |
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Post by mjc on Feb 24, 2011 13:27:24 GMT -5
Most of the places I've grown them, they get along to flowering well before first killing frost and I still see little seed.
One of the theories discussed in the article is that they are the result of a natural hybrid, probably between two other Helianthus species...and are nearly mules. The fact that they readily reproduce through asexual means tends to support this. So, it's not entirely down to flowering timing...but that doesn't help matters any. They seem more likely to be a southern US native...Gulf Coast, TX, maybe even northern Mexico, as their 'season' seems to correspond to more of the other native Helianthus in those areas, than the prairie or more northern species.
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Post by bunkie on Feb 24, 2011 16:44:16 GMT -5
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Post by woodsygardener on Feb 24, 2011 19:19:14 GMT -5
They grow abundantly in NW Arkansas. I'm not fond of the taste but look at them as survival food. Lots of carbohydrates and protein; probably several hundred pounds on my property, lots more all around.
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Post by steev on Feb 24, 2011 19:55:02 GMT -5
I like them cut bite-size and steamed fork tender, then baked a bit with butter and parmesan. I've been told the gas problem tends to lessen if they're stored a while, but I've not bothered.
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